SouthernView Posted May 1, 2010 Report Share Posted May 1, 2010 Lets have your views? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whalsa Posted May 3, 2010 Report Share Posted May 3, 2010 Its a fairly broad question. A tunnel, in principal, MIGHT be the best way forward in the long term but is frankly impractical in the short term. Maybe if the SIC had started planning a tunnel 10 or even 5 years in the past then they would be ready to implement a suitably designed tunnel before the current system becomes unusable due to the state of the ramps. As well as that IMHO there are shorter/busier routes, e.g. Yell Sound, which would benefit from a tunnel and be cheaper/easier to build. I think the farcical way about which this current ferry/tunnel debate has been undertaken is deplorable and has had detrimental effects on the Whalsay community as a whole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicky Posted May 4, 2010 Report Share Posted May 4, 2010 I think a tunnel would be the best, doesn't mean it will happen though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveh Posted May 4, 2010 Report Share Posted May 4, 2010 If you want to be connected to the mainland, why not live on the mainland? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skunnered Posted May 4, 2010 Report Share Posted May 4, 2010 ^^Well that's a good point daveh, and perhaps that's the reason that some of the people on Whalsay don't want a fixed link of any kind, because maybe they want to continue to live on an island, and not on what would effectively be a peninsula of the mainland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustMe Posted May 4, 2010 Report Share Posted May 4, 2010 Something Whalsay folk and those who travel to the island also need to consider is the potential disruption should the tunnel ever get seriously damaged. A few days to repair a linkspan compared to possibly months to repair a tunnel. At the very least I think they do need to press the authorities for details of a backup plan if the tunnel was blocked. Same goes for Yell, Bressay and anyone else wanting a tunnel........or objecting to a tunnel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skaterboy Posted May 4, 2010 Report Share Posted May 4, 2010 Why the heck do we need these damnably expensive ramps anyway, a concrete slipway and ferries designed like landing craft would be a hell of a lot cheaper. A system tried and tested for many years in many parts of the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavi Ugl Posted May 4, 2010 Report Share Posted May 4, 2010 I can never understand this argument that if a tunnel is put in then the island ceases being an island. As mentioned before, I've been through most of the Faroese tunnels and the islands they connect to are still islands, infact if you were parachuted onto one of the islands you wouldn't know if it was a ferry or a tunnel you'd have to use to get off it. What saddens me is that, just like today, we'll still be sitting in 10-15 year's time saying "the SIC should've biten the bullet 10-15 years ago". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavva Posted May 4, 2010 Report Share Posted May 4, 2010 what are the inhabitants of whalsay, bressay? Moles??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infiltrator Posted May 4, 2010 Report Share Posted May 4, 2010 If you want to be connected to the mainland, why not live on the mainland? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whalsa Posted May 4, 2010 Report Share Posted May 4, 2010 I agree with JustMe, what would happen if there was say a bad car crash inside the tunnel? As well as that if a tunnel was built then it would further encourage the SIC to try and close the secondary school in whalsay and send the pupils to the mainland, which is something that most people in whalsay do not want. And Kavi Ugl, I dont think its a matter of later saying the council should have bit the bullet, they do not have the time or the money to build it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicky Posted May 5, 2010 Report Share Posted May 5, 2010 If you want to be connected to the mainland, why not live on the mainland? I have a house in Whalsay, I like living in Whalsay, it's just turd being at the mercy of the weather. Also, it would be better becuase of advantages such as easily getting to the mainland in an emergency. It'd make commuting more viable and I mean with the factory closed right now a lot of people will be looking to the mainland with jobs. Do you suggest they all just go live on the mainland? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Posted May 5, 2010 Report Share Posted May 5, 2010 If you take the SIC report figures as correcthttp://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2010/04/15/whalsay-tunnel-too-expensive-for-council-officials-warnthen a tunnel would cost £23M to £28M more over its 120 year life than providing a ferry. Assuming things are more or less even, that would mean that putting on tunnel tolls at about £210,000 per year above current ferry fare income would cover the extra costs...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavva Posted May 5, 2010 Report Share Posted May 5, 2010 If you want to be connected to the mainland, why not live on the mainland? I have a house in Whalsay, I like living in Whalsay, it's just monkey being at the mercy of the weather. Also, it would be better becuase of advantages such as easily getting to the mainland in an emergency. It'd make commuting more viable and I mean with the factory closed right now a lot of people will be looking to the mainland with jobs. Do you suggest they all just go live on the mainland? Let the council provide a tunnel then but let there be a tariff that will cover the entire cost of maintaining this.... and cut off the ferry see how many whalsay folks want the ferry then!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
listerine Posted May 11, 2010 Report Share Posted May 11, 2010 most whalsay folk want to keep the ferrys and the jobs. the music and knitting will just be the start of the cuts if they blow £80-100m on a tunnel to one isle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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